Wednesday, May 14, 2014

My Latest Projects

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything. Sorry about that! My allergies and a black mood have been kicking my butt - not to mention track meets for my girl and lifting weights with my boy.
I realized that I hadn't shared my finished beaded stole with you! It was started in January and went on hold for a bit in February when the crochet hook went through my finger (my finger still hurts, too, because the hook grazed my knuckle) but I finished it on time to get my Astronomy OWL for the House Cup. As I was knitting I realized that the pink yarn wasn't working for me so I overdyed it and it's perfect now. What do you think?

It's only slightly lighter in real life. I've worn it several times because I'm so happy with it.
I've been making bracelets, too. I love bracelets - they're probably my favorite jewelry. Sadly I never got any friendship bracelets - they started being popular when I got out of that age group. Here's what I've done so far:

This one is fairly easy. I got the idea from Pinterest - a zipper edged with lace. I added a thin row of glitter because I like glitter (and have lots of it in the craft stash). It's fastened with a lobster claw clasp that hooks onto the zipper pull.

The bottom one is also easy - a zipper with the tape cut off. It's the same clasp as the above one. Both of these still zip, too, so a smaller wrist could unzip it a bit to make it fit.
The top one is some of my favorite buttons - gorgeous shells that are pretty weighty and beautiful. The full bracelet looks like this:

It was pretty simple to thread some thin cotton through the holes. I got the idea from a blog but didn't add anything else because I wanted to show the buttons. I couldn't capture the colors, though - pink, violet, gray, white shimmering together. You can imagine, though, if you've seen abalone shells. They're very similar.
I experimented with some flowers:

because all of the craft sites and blogs have amazing zipper flowers and I love them. The bigger one has a pin back on it so I can put it on a hatband or jacket. The smaller one has an alligator clip so it can go in my hair. I will be making more of these - they're not too tricky and I have a bunch of zippers from an auction haul last spring. One of the boards I follow on Pinterest is all zippers so expect more "toothy" things from me!
One of Khloe's friends had a baby last Friday. Yes, she's too young, but it's not my place to be judgy. Sunshine (her real name) is a sweet girl so I made a pair of socks for the little guy:

I wanted to make some purple ones but, darn it, I couldn't find my little ball of purple sock yarn. (I know it's here somewhere!) We'll be going to visit them in a few days - we don't want to be rude and come over right away while she's still settling into motherhood. We got her a set of supplies, too - lotion, soap, powder - and if I can I'll pick up a pack of diapers because the little ones go through them like crazy.
Finally, my mom got Khloe and me a rubber band loom. I'm still figuring it out but before long you'll be seeing lots of creations from it. I know they're for little kids but I think the rubber band bracelets are really neat and I know that people have been making all kinds of other things with them. (I love looms of all sorts. I have several hand-sized weaving looms and a beading loom. I'm aching for a bigger loom to make scarves and stoles but it will have to wait for a bit longer.)
Okay, that's all for now. I have another button bracelet to finish and some sewing to work on - and loads of other works in progress. See you all soon!